Author Archive

Articles by Michael Meyer | Email the Author

 

1. Behind the News

   The Ford Foundation’s unprecedented grant to The Los Angeles Times

   May 22, 2012 01:53 PM

   On Thursday, Los Angeles Times editor Davan Maharaj announced that his paper, once a profit engine for multi-billion dollar corporate owners and still one of the most powerful news organizations in the country, will receive a $1... Continue reading

2. The Kicker

   What’s Slate been up to?

   May 4, 2012 12:32 PM

   It's been more than a year since we profiled Slate for CJR's Guide to Online News Startups (then the News Frontier Database). Since then, the grandfather of Internet magazines lost Jack Shafer and Timothy Noah to... Continue reading

3. Page Views

   The Authentic Mexican Cookoff

   April 19, 2012 02:14 PM

   Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America | By Gustavo Arellano | Scribner | 320 pages, $25.00 Recently popularized as a buzzword for genuineness, “authenticity” has a much longer history as a term used to commodify the “ethnic”... Continue reading

4. Currents

   Saturation Point

   January 16, 2012 06:00 AM

   Consider the situation in many local news markets—some coverage from a newspaper, some from television, maybe one online outlet making a go of it. And then consider Evanston, Illinois, the affluent Chicago suburb that’s home to Northwestern University, where at... Continue reading

5. Essay

   What Can I Build Today?

   November 18, 2011 09:00 AM

   There are hundreds of local and regional online news startups in America, but only about five that media observers discuss with any frequency. The names will be familiar: Voice of San Diego, The Texas Tribune,... Continue reading

6. Page Views

   Failures of Vision

   September 21, 2011 02:01 PM

   Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography | by Errol Morris | The Penguin Press | 336 pages, $40.00 Here’s a theory: every year photographs become more ubiquitous, and as that growing ubiquity builds to a certain critical... Continue reading

7. Currents

   News Frontier

   August 28, 2011 01:49 PM

   Entry barriers are low in the online news world. Cheap hosting and free templates have launched a million blogs, including some where a single person, calling himself “Gazette” or “Bugle” or “Wire” or what have you, masquerades as a full-on... Continue reading

8. Page Views

   Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

   August 26, 2011 06:00 AM

   The marketing team behind Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), a biopic of Edward R. Murrow set largely amid the public duel between the broadcast pioneer and the mildly outspoken anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy, decided to go with a poignant,... Continue reading

9. Page Views

   Q&A: Sebastian Junger on Tim Hetherington

   July 7, 2011 05:31 PM

   It’s not often that one sees characters from a film gather to mourn a filmmaker. On May 24, soldiers from Second Platoon of Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Division joined friends, colleagues, and family of Tim Hetherington for a... Continue reading

10. Currents

    All Politics is Local

    July 5, 2011 05:01 PM

    One of the most important questions facing the news industry in its search to sustain journalism online is how the models of financially successful national news sites, which have the benefit of higher traffic volume to make up for... Continue reading

11. Page Views

    Superman

    July 1, 2011 10:49 AM

    When watching Superman (1978), I was reminded of the David Carradine rant from the end of Kill Bill: Vol. 2, in which he starts off with “As you know, I’m quite keen on comic books…” and goes on to talk... Continue reading

12. The News Frontier

    New Media Goes Door to Door in the Deep South

    May 9, 2011 10:57 AM

    I first encountered Weld in September 2010, and it remains the only site I’m aware of that was given an award before it officially launched. Its “prototype,” a Birmingham politics and public affairs blog called Second... Continue reading

13. Page Views

    Q&A: Calvin Trillin

    April 20, 2011 10:14 AM

    Trillin on Texas | by Calvin Trillin | University of Texas Press | 184 pages, $22.00 Last month, long-time New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin published his twenty-seventh book, a collection of nonfiction pieces about Texas and Texans titled, appropriately, Trillin... Continue reading

14. The News Frontier

    Narrative Found

    March 21, 2011 03:15 PM

    Earlier this month, This Land Press published the latest installment in its ongoing coverage of Bradley Manning, the army private accused of providing thousands of pages of classified documents to WikiLeaks. The story, by newly minted... Continue reading

15. Guide to Online News Startups

    NMPolitics.net

    December 21, 2011 11:23 AM

    LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO — In the spring of 2006, Heath Haussamen was working for the Las Cruces Sun-News in southern New Mexico, an ambitious... Continue reading

16. Guide to Online News Startups

    Sites Included in the Guide to Online News Startups

    May 24, 2011 02:21 PM

    This is a complete, alphabetized list of all the sites currently listed in the CJR's Guide to Online News Startups, formerly known as the News Frontier Database. Although we have completed more than 250 entries, the Guide is still... Continue reading

17. Guide to Online News Startups

    Welcome (Back)!

    March 23, 2011 06:19 AM

    Editor's note: On March 1, 2012, the News Frontier Database was renamed "CJR's Guide to Online News Startups." We're pleased to announce the latest upgrade of the News Frontier Database--now with more local news. We launched in January with originally... Continue reading

18. Guide to Online News Startups

    This Land Press

    March 21, 2011 05:20 PM

    TULSA, OKLAHOMA — Earlier this month, This Land Press published the latest installment in its ongoing coverage of Bradley Manning, the army... Continue reading

19. Guide to Online News Startups

    Guide to Online News Startups FAQ

    March 20, 2011 03:34 PM

    What is the Guide to Online News Startups? The Guide to Online News Startups, formerly known as the News Frontier Database, is a searchable, living, and ongoing documentation of digital news outlets across the country. Featuring originally reported profiles and... Continue reading

20. Guide to Online News Startups

    The Locust Fork News-Journal

    January 19, 2011 04:42 PM

    BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — The Locust Fork News-Journal, like many websites, is wholly devoted to the quirks, whims, emotions, and talents of its founder--in this... Continue reading

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